Dust-bag connector for vacuum cleaners



Sept. 26, 1950 E. P. TURNER 2 DUST BAG CONNECTOR FOR VACUUM CLEANERS Filed March 24, 1948 INVENTOB I EdyQ/VF? 711mm" I/VIT/VESS. Br I %Ywg%w A TTOR/VE) Patented Sept. 26, 1950 DUST-BAG CONNECTOR FOR VACUUM CLEANERS Edgar P. Turner, Fanwood, N. J assignor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth,

N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application March 24, 1948, Serial No. 16,715

8 Claims. 1

an improved dust-bag connector-frame that can be attached to the exhaust duct of a vacuum cleaner when the frame is in either an upright or an inverted position.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved means for properly positioning a dust-bag connector-frame with respect to the discharge duct of the vacuum cleaner.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved means for attaching a gasket to the connector-frame of a dust-bag.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention, from which the several features of the invention and the advantages attained therebywillbe understood by those skilled in the art.

In the drawing:

Fig.1 shows a side elevational view of a vacuum cleaner embodying a preferred form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the discharge duct portion of the vacuum cleaner of Fig. 1, showing the mouth of a dust-bag detached from the cleaner; I

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the mouth of the dust-bag placed against the end of the exhaust duct of the vacuum cleaner;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the mouth of the dust-bag and taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing a portion of the L-shaped lever and taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a modified form of the latch.

Referring to the drawings, the invention is embodied in a vacuum cleaner comprising an ambulatory chassis or casing ll formed from an upper casing shell 12 and a lower casing shell It; the two shells being joined on a line indicated by the numeral M. The lower shell is secured to the upper shell by a casing shell fastening means not herein shown.

The vacuum cleaner as a whole is carried on front and rear wheels l8 and Hi, the front wheels 18 being attached to the lower shell 13 and the rear wheels [9 being rotatably supported from a pair of discharge or exhaust ducts Z la-2 lb, later to be described. A pick-up and propelling handle 22, which forms no part of this invention, is

pivctally supported in a manner fully set forth in my prior patent application Serial No. 784,167, filedNovember 5, 1947. The upper end of a dustbag 23 is supported, in a manner not shown, from the handle 22, and the mouth or intake end 24 of the dust-bag is attached to the open end of the exhaust ducts of the vacuum cleaner by a bag securing means indicated generally by the numeral 26.

A combination electric motor-driven-fan unit i7 is supported within the casing shells l2 and l3, and the'motor-fan unit has a pair of rearwardly extending discharge ducts Zla and Nb. Further information concerning the motor-fan unit and the method of mounting the same can 'be obtained by reference to a patent application Serial No. 784,165, filed November 5. 1947, by F. T. Smith and to my patent application Serial No. 784,167, supra. As best seen in Fig. 2, the outlet ends of the exhaust ducts 2laand Zlb are rectangular in form, and have a smooth outer surface lying in one plane. The shorter vertical walls 21, 28, 29 and 3!] of these ducts are parallel, and the longer horizontal top walls 3| and 32 lie in one plane, whereas, the lower walls 33 and 34 lie in another plane. A lug 36 having an upwardly extending hook 31 is formed integral with and depends from a center portion of each of the lower walls 33-34. An apertured boss 38 is formed integral with the duct Zia at a point adjacent the intersection of the walls 28 and 3|. The aperture 39 of the lug 38 extends horizontally and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ducts Zia and 21b. This aperture 39 journals one arm 41 of an L-shaped latch-lever, the inner end of the arm 41 carrying a stop-collar 42 that is held to the arm 4| by a set screw 43, the stop-collar 42 being positioned in a recess 44. The other arm 46 of the latch-lever has two parallel portions 46a and 46b positioned on opposite ends of an intermediate connecting portion 460. The portion Mia'acts as a handle and the portion 4% acts to clamp a dust-bag connecting frame 41 to the open ends of the exhaust ducts Zla and 2lb in a manner hereinafter described. In order to insure a proper air tight seal between the exhaust ducts '2 id and 2 lb and the bag 23, the frame 41 is provided with a rubber-like gasket 48.

The dust-bag connecting frame 41 is, in effect, a short tube, substantially elliptical in form and having a central dividing wall 49 extending along the minor axis of the ellipse; thus resulting in the frame 4'! having two semi-elliptical openings. One end of the frame 4'! is provided with a channel 5| (Fig. 4) to which the bag 23 is held by a conventional wire clamp 52. The other end of the frame 41 is provided with a substantially rectangular flange 53 comprising a plurality of variously shaped lugs hereinafter described in detail. In order to hold the gasket 48 to the frame 41, four lugs 56, 51, 58 and'59 are formed on the four corners of the flange 53, and the gasket 48 is provided internally of its four corners with four pockets 56, 51', 58 and 59 for overlying and engaging these lugs. This arrangement makes it possible to clip the rubber gasket 48 to the frame 41 so that when the bag 23 and connecting-frame 41 are removed from connection with the vacuum cleaner, the gasket 48 will remain attached to the frame. However, if the gasket should become worn, it can easily be replaced. Reference to the lower portion of Fig. 2 shows that the lugs 6|, 62, 63, 64, 65, and the lugs H, 12, 13, I4, 15, formed respectively on the opposite longitudinal edges of the flange 53, are identical but of opposite hand. The lug 6| corresponds with lug l l, and each of these lugs is located adjacent an end of one of the longer sides of the frame. The lug 65 corresponds with lug 15, and each is located adjacent the other end of one of the longer sides. The lug 63 corresponds with lug 13, both of these lugs being located near the mid-point of one of the longer sides. The lug 62 corresponds with lug 12, and, in like manner, the lug 64 corresponds with lug 14. This arrangement makes it possible to connect the frame 41 to the ducts 2la2lb with either of the longer sides of the flange 53 on the top or on the bottom as described.

Either the pair of lugs 6! and 55, or the pair of lugs H and 75, may enter the hooks 31-31, and either the lug 63 or the lug 13 may be engaged by the portion 46b of the arm 46. Additionally, each of the longer sides of the flange 53 is provided with lugs 62, 64 or with lugs 12, 14. These lugs provide outwardly facing shoulders designed to engage the innermost side of the lugs 36, thereby providing a means for properly centering the frame 41 with respect to the exhaust or outlet ducts 2 la-2 lb. Each of the lugs 63 and 13 has a beveled corner 8! which act as a cam to guide the arm portion 46b in back of the lu l3 and thereby compress the rubber gasket 48 and flex the spring arm 45 enough to securely lock the frame 4? and the mouth of the bag 23 to the open ends of the exhaust ducts 2la2lb. The operation of the device will be understood from the above, therefore, only a brief rsum of the operation will be given. In connecting the mouth 24 of the vacuum cleaner dust-bag 23 to the outlet of the exhaust ducts 2|a-2lb, the lugs 6| and 65 or the lugs H and are placed into the hooks BL-S'l. lhen the frame 41 and gasket 48'are moved into face engaging relation with the end of the exhaust ducts. Thereafter, the latch-lever arm 46 is moved from the position shown by solid lines in Fig. 3 to the position shown by dotted lines in the same figure. During this operation the cam Bl acts to compress the gasket 48 and to stress the arm 4619.

Fig. 6 illustrates a modified embodiment of the above described invention. The showing of this figure differ in only two respects from the previously described device. The lug It (0 t e g 63) of Fig. 2 has been modified, and in Fig. 6 is shown to have a small lever retaining protuberance or nib 82. Furthermore, a dishedwasher spring 83 is inserted between the boss 38 and the stop collar 42. The operation of this embodiment of the invention is similar to that shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive except that in the modified form the spring 83 yields slightly as the portion 461) of the arm 46 passes over the nib 82. The nib 82 prevents an accidental opening of the latch-lever arm 48 with a consequent spilling of dirt from the dust-bag 23 and the ducts 2 la2 lb.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

1. In a dust-bag connecting means for a vacuum cleaner having an exhaust duct, a pair of hooks extending outwardly from the end of said duct, a pivoted latch member positioned adjacent the end of said exhaust duct, an apertured frame connected to the intake mouth of said dust-bag, and a plurality of lugs extending outwardly from said frame, two of said lugs being so constructed and arranged as to engage said hooks, and one other of said lugs having a cam surface and being so constructed and arranged as to be engaged by said latch member.

2. In a vacuum cleaner, a dust-bag connecting means, comprising, an exhaust duct member formed integral with a portion Of said vacuum cleaner, a pair of hooks positioned below and extending outwardly from the end of said duct member, a latch positioned above said exhaust duct member, an apertured frame connected to the intake mouth of said dust-bag, and a plurality of lugs extending outwardly from said frame, two of said lugs being so constructed and arranged as to engage said hooks, two other of said lugs having sides arranged to engage the sides of said hooks and thereby to position said frame with respect to said exhaust duct, and one other-of said lugs being so constructed and ar ranged as to be engaged by said latch lever.

3. In a vacuum cleaner, a dust-bag connecting means, comprising, a pair of rectangularly shaped exhaust ducts formed integral with a portion of said vacuum cleaner, a hooked lug positioned below and extending outwardly from the end of each of said ducts, an apertured boss positioned above and near the end of said ducts, a two-armed L-shaped latch-lever of which one arm is journaled in said apertured boss, a latch-handle-stop secured to and arranged to prevent removal of said arm from said apertured boss, a dual apertured frame connected to the intake mouth of said dust-bag, a plurality of lugs extending outwardly from said frame, two of said lugs being so constructed and arranged as to engage said hooks, and one other of said lugs being so constructed and arranged as to be engaged by said latch lever.

4. A connector means for attaching the intake mouth of a dust-bag to the exhaust duct of a vacuum cleaner, said connector means comprising, at least one hook formed integral with a portion of the exhaust duct of the vacuum cleaner, a latch mounted adjacent another portion of said exhaust duct, a connector frame attached to the intake mouth of said dust-bag, at least one lug formed on a first side of said frame and arranged to engage said hook, at least one lug formed along a second side of said frame and also arranged to engage said hook, a lug formed along the first side of said frame and arranged to be en aged by said latch, and a second lug formed along the second side of said frame and likewise arranged to be engaged by said latch.

5. A connector means for attaching the intake mouth of a dust-bag to the exhaust duct of a vacuum cleaner, said connector means comprising, a pair of hooks formed integral with a lower portion of the exhaust duct of the vacuum cleaner, an L-shaped latch-lever pivotally mounted adjacent an upper portion of said exhaust duct, a connector frame attached to the intake mouth of said dust bag, a pair of lugs formed along a first side of said frame and arranged when said frame is in one position to engage said hooks, a pair of lugs formed along a second side of said frame and also arranged when said frame is in an alternate positionto engage said hooks, a cam carrying lug formed along the first side of said frame and arranged to be engaged by said latch-lever, and a second cam carrying lug formed along the second side of said frame and likewise being arranged to be engaged by said latch-lever when said frame is in said alternate position.

6. A connector means for attaching the intake mouth of a dust-bag to the exhaust duct of a vacuum cleaner, said connector means comprising a pair of hooks formed integral with a lower portion of the exhaust duct of the vacuum cleaner, a latch mounted adjacent an upper portion of said exhaust duct, a connector frame attached to the intake mouth of said dust-bag, and a plurality of lugs formed along opposite sides of said frame; at least two of said lugs being arranged to engage said hooks, at least one of said lugs being arranged to be engaged by said latch, and at least two of said lugs having side edges arranged to engage the side edges of said hooks and thereby to position said frame with respect to said exhaust ducts.

7. In a vacuum cleaner, a dust-bag connecting means, comprising, an exhaust duct formed integral with a portion of said vacuum cleaner, a pair of hooks positioned below and extending outwardly from the end of said duct, a latch positioned above said exhaust duct, an apertured frame connected to the intake mouth of said dust-bag, a pair of lugs formed on said frame and arranged to engage said books, a single lug formed on said frame and arranged to be engaged by said latch, a cam and a nib on said lug engageable by said latch, said cam and said nib respectively acting to assist said latch in engaging said lug and for holding said latch in position after full engagement of said lug has been attained.

8. A dust-bag connector frame for attachment to the exhaust duct of a vacuum cleaner, said connector frame comprising a first plurality of differently shaped spaced lugs formed along one side of said connector frame, and a second plurality of spaced lugs formed along the other side of said connector frame, said second plurality of lugs being identical with said first plurality of lugs but of opposite hand, whereby said connector frame can be attached to a vacuum cleaner with either plurality of lugs uppermost.

EDGAR P. TURNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,493,221 Northrup May 6, 1924 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 1,964 Australia Sept. '7, 1926 

